Postgame Coverage: Game Gallery | Fashion Gallery | Bridges Highlights | Coach Borrego | Bismack Biyombo
The Charlotte Hornets found themselves in an overtime affair for the second time in three outings and unfortunately in this one, came out on the wrong end of a tough 112-110 home loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at Spectrum Center.
Miles Bridges paved the way for the hosts with 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting (career-high six three-pointers) and nine rebounds in the loss. This outing marked the second-highest scoring performance of Bridges’ NBA career thus far, coming in behind only the 31 he had in Washington on Nov. 22, 2019.
Trailing by 12 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Hornets ripped off a 26-4 run to take a 94-84 lead with 5:54 left on the clock. Toronto retaliated by going on a 16-5 stretch, which was capped by a Kyle Lowry layup at the 17.0 second mark to put the visitors up by one. Terry Rozier drained a free throw on the other end after a pre-inbounds foul on Serge Ibaka to tie things up, but Devonte’ Graham’s potential game-winner rolled off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Later with 40.4 seconds left in the extra frame, Rozier knotted the score again at 110-110 on a driving layup. After Lowry missed a pair of free throws, Rozier’s errant three at the 11-second mark found its way out to Terence Davis II, who dribbled down the court and passed to Ibaka at the rim. Ibaka then drew a foul, hit both free throws and Toronto forced a missed Rozier game-winning three at the other end to hang on for the win.
“That was a tough loss, but keep plugging, keep getting better and it’s only going to make us better,” said Head Coach James Borrego. “It stinks in the moment, but we keep our heads up, keep battling and keep moving forward. [We] put ourselves in a great position, got up 10 late, but give them credit, they made shots. We didn’t execute in those moments. We could have done a better job of closing that game out. It’s unfortunate, but we learn from that and we move on.”
Rozier finished with a game-high 27 points and six assists. Cody Zeller had 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while PJ Washington notched 12 points, a career-high 12 rebounds and six assists for his third career double-double. Graham rounded out Charlotte’s double-figure scorers, finishing with 11 points, five rebounds and six assists.
As for Toronto, Ibaka and Davis each had 23 points and 11 rebounds, with the latter’s marking a new career high for scoring. OG Anunoby (19 points), Lowry (15) and Patrick McCaw (13) made it all five Raptors starters with double-digit points.
The Hornets finished the night with 20 turnovers leading to 23 Toronto points, although scored 26 points themselves off just 13 Raptors giveaways. Each side tallied 46 points in the paint and 16 fast-break points as well.
A four-game road trip gets underway for the Hornets on Friday, Jan. 10, when they kick things off against the Utah Jazz starting at 9 PM EST in Salt Lake City, UT. Watch the game on Fox Sports Southeast or listen in on WFNZ 610 AM/102.5 FM or the Hornets app.